Delegation
by aboxofbears
Summary: When Rose asks a favour of her best friend, she doesn't expect him to say no. AH.
1. Chapter 1

"Dimitri, c'mon!" I slapped my palm harder against the door. "You can't leave me in the cold! I don't have any pants!"

I heard a muffled laugh from the other side of the paneling, and glared.

"Don't laugh at me! It's dark out here! Someone could be hiding in the tress- I could die. Right here, on your doorstep. My _blood_ would be on your hands. Consider that while you eat your warm food in your warm house, and leave me out here to be butchered by a fat man and his machete!"

"It's the guns you should be worried about," Dimitri said. His smirk was evident in his voice. I poked my tongue out at the door, though he clearly couldn't see me.

"It's _me_ you should be worried about," I snapped back. Shivering, I pulled my knees in tighter to my chest and closed my eyes against the glare of the porch light. "I'm freezing. I wasn't joking about not having pants."

There were two slight knocks from the other side of the door. "Rose without pants," he drawled. "How achingly predictable."

I grinned, and knocked back.

"Open the door, and I'll show you 'Rose without a shirt.'"

"No deal; 'Rose without a shirt' frequents at my house already. Try again."

I sighed, and pressed my head against the door.

"'Rose without pants and a shirt'?" I asked. He chuckled, and knocked twice again.

"How about 'Rose _with_ socks' when we go to bed tonight?" He said. I knocked back, and the door clicked open.

* * *

"I put two pairs of socks on you, yet your feet are _still_ freezing," Dimitri said, trapping my feet between his shins. I grinned.

"I _did_ maintain the 'Frosty Bitch' status quite well tonight- the cold toes are only fitting."

Dimitri groaned. "What did you do, Roza?"

I wriggled closer to him and then closed my eyes, taking pleasure in the combined warmth of the blankets and the fire and him. "I was with Adrian," I whispered, praying my breath didn't reek of alcohol in our close proximity. "And Avery didn't like it. The 'Frosty' part she pulled from our PDA- or lack thereof, and 'Bitch' from my genuinely being a bitch."

Dimitri snorted, and then pressed his face into my hair and yawned.

"She's jealous," he murmured.

"I don't know why; Adrian and I haven't _done_ anything. She knows that, hence the reference to ice."

"But she thinks you will," Dimitri replied. "And she's probably correct."

I opened my eyes to glare up at him.

"She's not," I argued. "I can't. Not with him. We already talked about this, Dimitri."

He shushed me, and pulled the blankets tighter around us.

"I don't want him to know I lied," I whispered, ducking my head shamefully. "It's embarrassing, because I'm pretty sure he already suspects. There's only so many excuses I can use."

"I know, Roza," Dimitri said. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. Lets just go to sleep, and you can freak out about it tomorrow."

I sighed in response, and snuggled into Dimitri.

"You know," I said, after a moment's silence, "she's probably jealous about you. Not everyone gets to snuggle up to a giant Russian lumberjack whenever they want."

Dimitri chuckled, and ran a finger down my leg. I jerked away from the ticklish touch, and slapped him on the chest.

"With the exception of socks," he replied, tearing my hand from his torso with a grin. "No one gets to snuggle with the lumberjack if they've got cold feet."

* * *

_Confused about Rose and Dimitri's relationship? So am I._

_Leave a review and I'll break it down more in the next chapter._

_(:_

_I don't own Vampire Academy, or any of the characters mentioned. _


	2. Chapter 2

"Dimitri. _Dimitri!_"

He shoved at my stomach and grunted.

"Comrade, wake up!" I whispered, smacking him in the center of the chest. His eyebrows pulled together, and he gave me another hard shove backward. "Dimitri!"

"Shut up, Roza," he groaned, pressing his hands over his eyes.

"But I've got something to tell you," I whined. "Don't you want to hear it?"

"_No._"

I pouted, and hooked my arm across his chest. "I think you'll like it."

"I won't," he growled. "Go away."

"I'll go away if you listen to what I have to say," I negotiated. "And I'll make you breakfast- pancakes."

He sighed. "With the blueberry sauce?"

"With the blueberry sauce."

"Okay," he relented, after a moment's silence. He folded his arm over mine. "Start talking."

I pushed my hair out of my face, and took a deep, slow breath.

"I was thinking about the Adrian thing," I said, my face heating the slightest. "And my virginity. And we're not dating- me and Adrian, so technically it wouldn't be cheating if I were to _fix_ my virginity problem with someone _else_."

Dimitri snorted, shifting beneath me.

"You're going to sleep with someone, just so you don't have to admit to Adrian that Jesse's rumours aren't true?" He said.

"That's the plan."

His eyes slowly peeled open, dancing with amusement.

"So you're just going to walk up to someone and ask them to have sex with you?" He asked with a smirk. "Classy way to loose your virginity, Roza."

"But see, that's where _you_ come in," I said slowly. "I want the whole cliched package, with roses and champagne, and I want it to be with someone who cares about me- who isn't just there to get into my pants."

"And how're you going to get all of that?" Dimitri said. "Advertise online?"

I met his eyes, trying to channelling enough meaning into my gaze, hoping that he'd see my point- that I wouldn't have to say it.

He stared back, still amused, still grinning playfully. Still uncomprehending of what I was trying to say.

"No," I sighed. "Not online. I've already got someone who cares about me, that isn't hanging around just for sex." His brows drew together, but he didn't say a word. I continued on. "And I know that if I told him I wanted champagne and roses, he'd get me champagne and roses. Because he's my best friend, and best friends _help_ each other out."

Recognition dawned on his face, as his eyes grew wide and his mouth popped open.

"Dimitri," I said, my cheeks heating as I drew his name out, "will you have sex with me?"


	3. Chapter 3

While Dimitri didn't give me a 'no,' he didn't give me a 'yes' either, and walked around brooding throughout the morning- even frowning at the pancakes I'd lovingly made him. By midday, I'd had enough of his cloud of self-inflicted depression- he was starting to resemble Christian.

"Dimitri," I whispered, pausing Clash of the Titans. His eyes flickered, but they had yet to meet my own. He looked everywhere but at me. It was clear he was tormenting himself over my question- over my virginity- but I didn't retract it. He'd still beat himself up over it even if I did tell him to forget about it; it was who Dimitri was. He was always in a battle with himself- the wants of the people he loved vs. his own.

"_Dimitri_, look at me."

He managed a fleeting glance at our intertwined hands, but promptly returned his gaze to the floor. I sighed, biting back a stab of rejection, and shuffled closer to him.

He didn't acknowledge my presence.

I grasped his chin and turned his face to mine, but he quickly jerked away. Hurt, I dropped my hand, exhaling slowly.

"You're being mean," I whispered.

"I'm sorry," he said. It was more than his newly designated one worded replies, and it was a sincere apology, but it didn't ease my inner distress. Dimitri had never not touched me before, and he'd never rejected my touch. It wasn't nice, knowing that a stupid question had him doing so.

I wanted a do-over of the morning, but I didn't. As much as it was putting a strain on our friendship now, I wanted him to ultimately be the one to do the deed. There was no one I loved more- it made sense. At least to me, it did.

"You're a zombie, Dimitri."

He glanced down at my chest, and then slowly, slowly raised his eyes to meet my lips.

"It's a big favour, Roza. So-", his voice cracked, "huge. I can't think. I can't say what's in my head."

"You can," I urged, squeezing his fingers in my own. "I said what was in my head, please say what's in yours."

"Mama would kill me," he said, with a smirk. It wasn't a smile, but it wasn't a grimace, so I'd take it.

He licked his lips and placed his hand on my thigh. "I want to tell you yes," he murmured slowly, his eyes on my mouth, sliding his palm up, and up. "I want to tell you I'll do it."

It was all the encouragement I needed.

I hooked my leg over his lap, and slid onto his thighs. I'd straddled him in countless different occasions, yet this one moment was different. Perhaps it was because of my expectations, my willingness to take this beyond the normal boundaries of our friendship, or perhaps it was because of his gaze, so hungry on my mouth and the hitch in his breathing. Whatever it was, I felt good pressed against him, shaking with hormones screaming at me to press my lips against his.

My hand flit to his cheek, and I quickly removed it, scared the gesture was too tender for the situation. I repositioned them in his hair and he repositioned himself beneath me, rocking his hips against my own. I bit back a groan and ducked my head to his, ignoring the budding anticipation at the harness to his jeans. I wouldn't sleep with him until he had roses and champagne, but there was nothing wrong with getting started.

He ran his hands up and down my thighs, only pausing when his mouth met mine. It was a quick kiss, and I was sloppy in my movements, too busy analysing what different part of body went where. He must have caught my hesitance- taking my hand and pressing it to his crotch the second his lips left my own. The gesture wasn't romantic in the least- more erotic as he held his palm over my own, keeping me there.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to fuck you, Roza."

The admission tinted the tips of my ears red, and in one fluid movement I was back against his chest, my mouth seeking his in a new, unanalysed and frenzied kiss- one that even Adrian hadn't yet brought out of me. This kiss was unmistakably Dimitri's, formulated solely for the best friend that stated his secret lust, produced solely for the man that turned me on by doing so.

He groaned into my mouth and bucked his hips against mine, sending a wave of euphoria crashing through me. He felt so good everywhere, underneath me, and I wanted to wrap myself in his body; big and strong, rippling beneath my touch.

Then, as he pulled his mouth from mine and the high started to wane, and our saliva dried on my lips, he grimaced again.

"I _wanted_ to tell you yes," he panted, and my ears shattered. "I want to- I might, but I have to think, without you clouding my opinion."

"After that?" I screeched, shoving my mind-numbing embarrassment into a shell of stoic-faced anger. "You can't say that after- after _that_! Dimitri, you just said that you've wanted to-"

"That's why you can't be here!" Dimitri yelled back, on the defensive. "You just _jump_ on me and expect me to redeem an ounce of control- it's what I mean about you clouding my judgement!"

I dropped my hand from his shoulders, and shoved against his chest. I had to blink back tears of frustration; I was mortified. And the horror only grew as my eyes watered more- if Dimitri saw tears, it'd only cloud his damned judgement more.

"Where are you going?" He said quietly; resigned, as I slid off his lap. I escaped to his bedroom with only a shake of my head, and thankfully, he didn't chase after me. I needed to go home otherwise I would start sobbing, and God knew I needed to think about all of this too.

He was standing when I returned, his eyes on my keys and his hand on the door. He held it open, as if he knew where I was running to, or rather, what I was running from. Him.

"Call me when you get home," he murmured, pulling me in for a quick hug on my way past. He didn't mention the elephant in the room, which I was grateful for. I didn't want to hear about it, and I'm not sure he did either. "I want to know you're safe. The roads are slippery."

I nodded against his chest, leaning into him for the tiniest moment. It was different, hugging Dimitri. I wanted to stay in his embrace, warm and secure, and confide in him all my sorrows- but my sorrows were _him_, and as much as I wanted him to know how he'd hurt me, embarrassed me, I couldn't bring myself to speak a word of it. I just pulled out of his arms, mumbled a goodbye and started down the steps, his socks soaking through with snow as my cheeks soaked through with tears.

Because he still wouldn't look at me- wouldn't meet my eyes. And it was devastating to think that maybe, after seven years, this was the beginning of the end of us.

* * *

_A slightly heavier chapter, I think._

_So review, and tell me what you think!_


	4. Chapter 4

"... joyrides- you're not even listening to me, are you?"

I yawned and glanced over at Natalie, who leaned with her cheek pressed to the cool window, a more than feral grin covering her shimmery face.

"Of course not," she purred, as she shot me a seductive wink. You're too busy eye-humping your boyfriend in the rearview mirror."

I blinked lazily, and then shifted my attention back to the object in question and resumed my obvious 'eye-humping' of Adrian. So well focused on the road was he, that it was easy to take advantage. And in my slightly inebriated state, taking advantage of sexy, well proportioned six foot-somethings was all I wanted to do- Dimitri excluded.

"So what if I am?" I challenged, my eyes flickering down to Adrian's lips, "better my boyfriend than yours."

Natalie's glare burned into the side of my cheek, but I didn't give her an ounce of attention. My gaze had drifted to my boyfriend's hands, wound tightly around the steering wheel. They were something of his I'd always loved; his palms rough like Dimitri's, though from years of expose to turpentine as opposed to a lifetime's exposure to Russian winters and baby vomit and battered western novels. His fingers easily grasped brushes and balanced easels, so slender and excessively lengthy. Dimitri's were shorter, and his knuckles fatter, and his fingerprints waves instead of the delicate spirals of my boyfriend's.

Though he was a prude, you'd see Dimitri's whole soul in his hands; so superficially strong, but so easily breakable. And there was something so unsettling about seeing Dimitri's soul- seeing so much of someone, especially when I had nothing to offer in return, had me physically ill.

It was why I loved Adrian's hands; there wasn't a thing to see. The marks on his palms were merely marks, not tales of events passed or memoirs of people long gone. They were just his hands, and were only his hands. What I knew of him he'd told me, and what I thought of him I'd thought myself. We both got to choose how much of one another we wanted to see- I got to choose how much of him I wanted to see.

"Eddie isn't my boyfriend," Natalie grumbled.

I rolled my eyes and shoved my half-eaten chocolate bar in her direction.

"Complain to the candy bar," I said, waving it by her pouting face when she didn't take it. "I've heard the 'poor me' crap everyday for forever and I don't even care."

Natalie huffed, but took the chocolate.

"You're a bitch," she said, and then bit into the candy.

* * *

Adrian tugged on the collar of my jacket, and pressed his body to mine. Eddie whooped from his perch on the car bonnet, and I ducked my head into Adrian's chest.

"Walk with me," Adrian said, seemingly oblivious to the warmth of my cheeks against his skin. "Thick and Thicker deserve a little privacy- they've managed to keep it PG for over two hours."

"A new record," I mumbled. Adrian chuckled, and slid a hand under my tank top.

"Speaking of holding out," Adrian whispered, "I'm starting to think that that's what you're doing- evading. . . Or denying me sex."

I tensed against his palm, and he was quick to explain himself.

"I said that wrong," he said, brushing his thumb against my ribs. "What I wanted to say was that if you're holding out, and playing hard to get, then it's working."

I exhaled slowly, and glanced up to meet his gaze.

"You think I'm playing hard to get?" I whispered back with a coy smile, barely managing to conceal the nervous tremor to my voice. "That I'm purposely abstaining from sex with Adrian Ivashkov?"

Adrian grinned and hunched forward to press his heated forehead to my own.

"Sometimes," he said, "yes. There's always an excuse- other priorities, a conveniently silent phone call or a place you claim not to like, despite your step-mother having confirmed it to be your favourite the day before." I flushed red, and dipped my head back to his chest.

"And I'd like think that the excuses were all part of a creative plan of yours, as opposed to the cold hard possibility of you not actually wanting to have sex with me- which given my past, wouldn't surprise me."

He exhaled loudly, and hugged me tighter to him.

"Whatever it was- is," he said after a moments silence, in which I refused to speak and acknowledge his confession. "It worked. God, you have no idea the affect you have on me, Rose."

With his words came a nauseating glimpse of Dimitri, hard and stiff and marble-like on the couch, claiming his want for his best friend- for me.

'You have no idea how long I've wanted to fuck you, Roza.'

I ignored the bitter memory and pressed even harder against Adrian, seeking the body of the boy who actually wanted me, and persisted to have me. I didn't need a man who was too scared to perform a simple favour for his best and nearly only friend, despite it potentially curing his chronic case of blue-balls on the way.

"Rose," Adrian groaned, his hand tightening on my hip. Though we were so tightly wound together already, it wasn't close enough for him, and as Dimitri talked himself back into my mind like some stupid cock-blocking alarm, it wasn't close enough for me either.

A wolf whistle echoed through the night, and then the sound of a car horn. Natalie's giggles were what finally pulled Adrian and I from our nearly dry humping, and taking my hand, Adrian leaned down to pant in my ear.

"Let's go for that walk."

* * *

_This is completely unedited. It's midnight, and I wanted to upload it and I don't know what is happening in it, so._

_What do you think Rose and Adrian will do and what Dimitri will think if/when he knows? _

_I do not own the characters, just the plot. They're Richelle Mead's._


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you to the reviewers: __**neverstaydown**__, __**RozaRocks**__, __**bboop12**__ and __**M. **_

_You can thank the people written for this chapter, because it really wouldn't have been here had the story not been compared to chocolate. I'd don't know if the drop in reviews was due to an inconvenient posting time, or the absence of Dimitri in the chapter- or if you readers are alerting and just not reading._

_Of course, you could tell me in a review (:_

_This chapter is Dimitri's, and I do not own Vampire Academy nor the charactersin this story unless stated otherwise. The plot, however, is mine. _

* * *

"As exciting as it is discussing my daughter's sex life," Tasha said, placing her empty paper cup on counter beneath her, "I need head off and get dinner started for my husband."

I grimaced, and swept her rubbish off of the bench.

"Thanks for stopping by," I said. "And thanks for the coffee." I held up my own paper cup in a salute, as I deposited hers into the trash can.

Tasha nodded, her dark hair covering her scar momentarily. She smiled as she pushed it out of the way, her jewelled wedding band glinting in the dimming light. It sat in the place of my grandmother's ring- the one thing that had bound Tasha and I three years ago, though a sign of kinship as opposed to love.

"Anytime," she said. "I mean it when I say that just because I live with Rose, doesn't mean I'll take her side, or agree with her opinions. God knows she's pigheaded enough to stand for herself."

I grunted in agreement. It was difficult to argue with that logic.

"Though I guess it's why we love her," Tasha elaborated, "isn't it?"

Again, I only grunted. While I did love Rose, I didn't exactly _like_ her- she was acting like a five year old, ignoring my existence, which was hardly likeable behaviour considering she was the one that had sucker punched me with the sex proposition.

"Isn't it?" Tasha demanded, seemingly unsatisfied with my answer.

I rolled my eyes.

"Of course," I said. "We love her because she's a stubborn brat. No other reason- just _purely_ due to her close mindedness-"

"'_Of course_' is all I wanted to hear, Dimka," Tasha interrupted, slinging her handbag over her shoulder. "You're going to be sleeping with my kid; denying your love for her isn't working in your favour, buddy."

"I'm not sleeping with her," I argued, as she waltzed out of the room, a grin on her face.

"You just said so yourself," Tasha threw over her shoulder. "Rose is a stubborn, close-minded brat. Of course you'll be sleeping with her."

* * *

Footsteps sounded down the hall and then, there was Rose. Smiling sheepishly, and dragging Adrian fucking Drunkard down the hall by his pinkie.

"Rosemarie," Abe said from his perch at the head of the table. "We have a guest."

Rose paused at the end of the hall and rolled her eyes, oblivious to her step-mothers- and my own prying eyes.

"Who?" She placed finger over Ivashkov's smirking mouth. He looked so smug- as smug as the day he'd swaggered out of Viktoria's bed, gifting her with glandular fever and three hour long pregnancy scare. And I wanted to kill him, literally. I wanted to throw him through the nearest window and then dance on his grave.

"Come and see," Tasha replied, an amused grin on her face as she glanced over at me. "I'll set another placemat for your. . . Friend."

"Boyfriend," Rose corrected as she strolled into the room, fingers intertwined with Adrian's.

_Nice to see she put a label on it, then._

Tasha excused herself from the table, and passing Rose, she whispered something in her ear.

I watched as Rose went red in the cheeks, and then Tasha was gone and my Roza's gaze locked on mine.

"Dimitri," she said curtly, her eyes darting over to her father's before drifting back to mine.

It wasn't the warmest greeting, and it wasn't the frostiest. It still pissed me off, however, that I only got a semi-decent acknowledgement when I wasn't the one in the wrong.

"Roza," I said, glaring superiorly at Adrian. I had the upper-hand; Abe liked me and his wife loved me. Their daughter's feelings were currently questionable, but as long as I had the votes of the parents, I would come out the victor.

I spun my knife under my palm in a show of dominance and Adrian's jaw locked, his hand tightening around Rose's.

Abe's guffaws went unnoticed, buried beneath the testosterone in the air.

"You didn't tell me you were coming tonight," Rose said, dragging my gaze back to hers.

"You didn't answer my calls," I responded.

Rose motioned to Adrian and raised their conjoined limbs. "I've been busy," she said.

"Well," Tasha said, as she swanned into the room, shooting me a devious look. _Let's get the ball rolling_, was exactly what it said. All heads snapped toward her. "So has Dimitri, I believe. Who was that _pretty_ little thing I caught you with today?"

_The postlady?_

"Tammy, was it? Talia- Tatiana?"

"_Tatiana_," I said, catching on and smirking at the wide-eyed, tight-lipped expression on Roza's face. "Quite a catch, huh?"

"'_a_' catch," Abe said, suddenly intent on joining in. "_The_ catch, my boy. Tasha was gushing about her the whole afternoon. Bring her to dinner one night next week, won't you? If, of course, you even make it out of the house."

Rose looked at her father in horror.

"_Highly_ unlikely-"

"_Dimitri_," Rose yelped, over Tasha's teasing. The room went silent, and Rose tipped her chin toward Adrian. "Excuse me, _boyfriend_," she said, keeping her glare trained on me. "But I need to talk to my friend. Alone. _Now_."


End file.
